DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2012
Sep
12
 
 
Do you and your DVR get the blues on NFL football Sundays? CBS in particular wants to help...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
On this day in 1967, CBS introduced the popular variety/sketch series, The Carol Burnett Show...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. This outstanding 2011 miniseries, premiering in the U.S. on Encore, concludes tonight, with all its primary characters eventually gathering under one roof — but Upstairs, Downstairs, or even Downton Abbey, it’s not. For a full review of this series, which stars Romala Garai as a conflicted prostitute in 1974 London, see Bianculli’s Blog.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
The first TV presentation of Wagner’s Ring cycle in more than 20 years (the most recent was the 1990 Live from the Met James Levine production) is televised this week, beginning with the first opera in the series, Das Rheingold. This is the Robert Lepage production, conducted by James Levine and starring, among others, Stephanie Blythe as my friend Fricka. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and young Thomas Horn star in this 2011 movie drama tied to a boy whose father was lost on 9/11. Its presentation tonight, on the anniversary of that tragedy, is only one special TV event tonight marking the occasion. If you prefer sometime more factual, the best of the bunch this year is a repeat of History Channel’s 102 Minutes that Changed America (9 p.m. ET), which recounts, and counts down, the tragic events of the day in a minute-by-minute rundown.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This Season 4 opener plays the old jump-ahead-in-time card, picking up the action five months after we last saw everyone. So there are new problems already established, and new characters to meet — including a photographer played by Ray Romano, who has hired Sarah (Lauren Graham) as his assistant.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: If you’re into televised sex and violence, the Season 5 opener of this drama about an outlaw motorcycle gang starts things off with eye-catching examples of both. It also makes room for some powerful recurring guest stars, including Jimmy Smits and Harold Perrineau in roles quite different than the ones you’re used to seeing them portraying. Katey Sagal stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
11
 
 
The one-time kid-free Peacock network is loading up on babies and/or baby talk with comedies Guys with KidsThe New Normal and the returning Up All Night...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
10
 
 
Finally, it’s the men’s final. Novak Djokovic defeated David Ferrer yesterday to qualify to face Andy Murray (pictured), who had beaten Thomas Berdych the day before, in today’s weather-postponed men’s final.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Sep
10
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: The blind auditions, always the best part of this series, begin tonight, as NBC’s music-competition series embarks on its new season. The same quartet of celebrity judges returns: Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green (pictured), Blake Shelton and Christina Aguilera. Read Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes for more on the rivalry between The Voice and Fox's The X Factor.